Ahmed is a young Bahraini. Like most Bahrainis, he is naive. On May 7, 2004, Ahmed was
arrested on drug-related charges. He has been imprisoned at the CID headquarters since
then. Ahmed is being treated as a criminal. He is being discriminated against. Ahmed is
being threathened and all his confessions have been extracted under duress. He is not
alone.

There are 64 people held in custody, some of whom have been there for nine months... All
of them have gone on a peaceful hunger strike. All they want is JUSTICE. All they are
seeking is to be put on trial immediately or released on bail until their trial
dates.Since May, Ahmed has lost his job. He did not see his baby daughter who was born
after his wife went into premature labour because of the stress.

Ahmed was picked up from outside his home at 10pm. He did not have a chance to tell his
wife what was happening to him. The first his family knew of his whereabouts was three
days later. In effect, Ahmed was kidnapped by the authorities. Ahmed has suffered the pain
and indignity in silence. In Ahmed's agony is Bahrain's shame. Is anyone listening?

2.26.2005

What are Bahrain's police busy with exactly? Part 2

Here's another disturbing report from today's GDN on the behaviour of SOME of Bahrain's police:You will need to read between the lines to understand how they abuse their positions and terrorise people.

Policeman denies harassing FilipinaBy MOHAMMED ASLAMA JORDANIAN policeman has denied harassing a Filipina and violating her right to freedom of movement.He has also denied impersonating a traffic policeman by stopping her from driving off in her car.The Filipina shop worker, 36, has in turn denied making an obscene gesture to the policeman.The Public Security policeman, 24, filed a complaint that the woman made the obscene gesture to him and tried to ram his car, outside a cold store in Gudaibiya.He claimed that she worked with his fiancee and had threatened him through her and had repeatedly made trouble for him.The allegations stem from an incident in February last year, when the Filipina was detained by traffic police, then handed over to Public Security, after a complaint filed by the other defendant.The next day the Filipina also filed a complaint with police, saying that the defendant had repeatedly harassed her.She said she went to a restaurant in Gudaibiya with a girlfriend and as she parked her car, she saw the defendant sitting in a black Mercedes with two other men.The woman said she had had problems with him before and was worried about her car, so she went back to move it."I was worried about my car after seeing the Jordanian security man, who always harassed me wherever he saw me," she told police."I contacted a traffic policeman I knew and informed him about the situation and about that security man."He told me to remove my car and park it somewhere else near the restaurant."I went back to my car to move it, but the Jordanian security man and the two other men with him were blocking my car."When I wanted to enter my car he stopped me and said don't move the car from this place because the traffic police are coming for you now."I said I did not do anything and then the police arrived and a policeman in the patrol asked me to accompany them to the police station."I asked him why should I go to the police station without any reason."The policeman got down from the police patrol and brought his face near me to smell and check if I am drunk."The Jordanian security man had reported to them that I was drunk."The male defendant told police that he had parked his car to buy cigarettes from a cold store and the Filipina tried to ram him and made an obscene gesture with her fingers."My fiancée is also working in the same company where this Filipina is working and she is not in good terms with her and when she sees me she uses vulgar language against me," he said."This woman has threatened me through my fiancée and through a traffic police officer and he is the one who is provoking her against me."The case was adjourned until March 19, because the Filipina did not show up at court.